After 0-for-4 night, Willingham held out of lineup

MINNEAPOLIS -- After going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in Tuesday's 4-2 loss to the Tigers, outfielder Josh Willingham was held out of Wednesday's starting lineup.

Manager Ron Gardenhire said it was a good day to give Willingham a break. Darin Mastroianni started in left field in Willingham's absence with Ryan Doumit getting the start at designated hitter.

"He didn't have much success yesterday," Gardenhire said of Willingham. "I think he was a little devastated he didn't take too good of swings. He was a little flustered and I could see that, so this was a good day to let him sit and help me manage."

It's been a down year for Willingham, who is hitting just .211/.347/.375 with 14 homers and 48 RBIs in 108 games. The 34-year-old hit .260/.366/.524 with 35 homers and 110 RBIs in 145 games last year en route to winning an American League Silver Slugger Award.

MRI shows no structural damage in Arcia's knee

MINNEAPOLIS -- Rookie outfielder Oswaldo Arcia had a precautionary MRI exam on his right knee Wednesday, and it came back clean, said Twins general manager Terry Ryan.

The MRI showed no structural damage, and Arcia is listed as day to day. Ryan said the MRI was done for precautionary reasons, as they didn't want him to head home to his native Venezuela after the season with a nagging injury.

Arcia initially injured his knee while jumping up against the wall during batting practice on Monday, and he hasn't played since Sunday.

Mmanager Ron Gardenhire remains hopeful that Arcia, who had six RBIs in Sunday's 11-7 loss to the A's, will be able to play again before the season ends on Sunday.

"He's getting a precautionary MRI but is actually feeling better today," Gardenhire said before the results of the MRI were announced. "We want him to get out there and run around in the outfield a little bit, but they wanted to make sure everything was safe and sound in there. So we'll see how he comes back."

Worth noting

• Ryan Doumit hit his 99th career homer on Tuesday, and he is just one homer away from becoming the eighth active catcher with at least 100 homers. The last two active catchers to reach 100 homers were Joe Mauer and Russell Martin, who both reached the milestone on June 8.

• Chris Parmelee has been swinging the bat well since being recalled from Triple-A Rochester on Sept. 9, as he's hitting .300 with a double and four RBIs in 14 games. However, Gardenhire said Parmelee still needs to work on his defense at first base, as he was in the wrong spot on cutoff plays twice last week.

• The Twins struck out 14 times on Tuesday, giving them 1,369 punchouts on the season. The Twins set the club record for strikeouts before the calendar even hit September, and they are on pace to finish with the third highest total in Major League history. The Twins currently rank seventh on MLB's all-time strikeout list for a season but are second in the Majors this year, as the Astros have already whiffed 1,492 times, which is the second highest total in MLB history.